With the increasing demand and higher price of fossil fuels, in addition to global warming concerns from carbon dioxide emissions, energy storage systems such as batteries and capacitors with substantially higher energy and power densities are urgently needed in transportation and other applications. Lithium-ion batteries have been identified as a critical enabling technology for development of advanced, fuel-efficient vehicles, especially for plug-in hybrid electrical vehicles (PHEVs). However, there is a need to have lithium-ion batteries with a higher energy density, longer cycle and calendar life, improved safety, and lower cost than the currently known lithium-ion batteries. Lithium/air batteries are also promising technology but in need of economically viable, industrial-scale manufacturing methods and designs, as well as providing rechargeability with higher energy densities, and longer cycle life and calendar life.